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Switzerland, beware. The toast of last week's annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas wasn't a new phone, tablet, computer, or robotic gizmo, but a watch. Then again, the Pebble smartwatch tells a lot more than time. Look for it to be a badge of cutting-edge, techie cool in coming months, as Pebble Technology, the start-up, ships its first watches to backers who placed $10 million worth of preorders last spring through the crowdfunding site Kickstarter.

The Pebble connects wirelessly with a nearby iPhone or Android smartphone, and serves as a small second screen that can handily display incoming phone calls, text messages, e-mails, and Facebook and other alerts. A slick smartphone app, soon to be live on Apple's App Store, lets you reprogram the Pebble with custom watch faces and additional apps, including a digital pedometer.

Watches as smartphone extensions were a hit, in general, at this year's CES. The Italian i'm Watch ($389) has a color touch screen, which the Pebble lacks, but a shorter battery life. Other entries in this growing category can track your pulse or misplaced phone. Even simpler smartphone watches can relay caller ID and other smartphone alerts, without running their own apps.

The handsome Cookoo ($130) by ConnecteDevice, another Kickstarter project, combines analog movement with digital display, and features a spiffy iPhone app that enables remote control of an iPhone camera shutter.

For all the buzz, Apple stores are unlikely to start selling smartwatches, further fueling rumors that the tech titan might have something else up its sleeve, if not on its wrist.